The Chronicles of Naruto: 1st and Second Arc
by ChronicalLegend
Summary: Naruto has been shunned all his life when a savior in the form of Itachi Uchiha appeared. Unleashing the legendary Rinnegan, Naruto will become a force to be reckoned with. He will form bonds that will last forever in his quest to become Hokage.AU.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. If I make any OCs then I shall state that they are OCs.

THE CHRONICLES OF NARUTO

Graduation and Mission to Wave Arcs

EPISODE I: AWAKENING

On October 10th the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox appeared in Konohagakure. Many Shinobi were sent to combat the demon but none prevailed and the fox destroyed everything in its path. Eventually the leader of the village, the Fourth Hokage, came up with a way to defeat the demon by sealing the beast within a newborn child. But this Dead Demon Consuming Seal came at a terrible price. In return for sealing the demon fox within the newborn baby Naruto, the Shinigami or death god demanded a terrible price. The Fourth Hokage agreed with the cost and sacrificed his life while leaving behind a request for his predecessor, the Third Hokage, to tell the villagers what he had done and for them to treat Naruto as a hero for being the one to contain the beast for the rest of Naruto's natural life at which time the fox would die with Naruto with no hope for escaping its prison.

The Third Hokage did as his successor asked and told the surviving villagers of the Fourth's sacrifice and the legacy he left behind. Unfortunately the villagers did not respect the Fourth's wishes for Naruto's future and treated him as if the he was the demon itself. They were not able to understand that the Fourth's seal blocked the fox from influencing Naruto and they believed that Naruto was merely the human form of the fox.

In the years to come the Third had been reinstated as Hokage and he did his best to protect Naruto even passing a law declaring that no one was to speak of Naruto being the container of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. This would be an S-Rank secret punishable by death if broken. The villagers did all they could to circumvent the law without breaking it and some of Konoha's Shinobi joined in with the beatings that they would inflict upon the boy. The Third did his best to punish the perpetrators but the Council of Elders made up of the village's clan heads, the elders of Konoha and a Civilian Council, overrode many of the Third's rulings involving the civilians that were involved in the crimes. While the Shinobi portion primarily went along with the Third despite their general dislike for Naruto the civilians and elders were another story. The civilians, especially one Mrs. Haruno, couldn't understand the intricacies of the Fourth's seal and couldn't believe it could contain something like the Nine-Tails and so were more inclined to believe that the seal had merely trapped the fox in human form. The elders, being former Shinobi, knew of the seal and understood it, but they, especially one Danzo Shimura of the Foundation, had wanted Naruto to be made into a weapon of defense for Konoha or simply not allow him to be trained as a ninja and be made to live an isolated life as a civilian away from the rest of the village.

As for Naruto, he had been given the last name of Uzumaki which unknown to anyone except a select few had been Naruto's Mother's last name. Naruto grew up with the protection of ANBU guards from the ANBU Black Ops division. His main protector would become one Itachi Uchiha who guarded Naruto despite the protests of the council saying that the Third should not give the boy the protection of someone who was potentially Konoha's best ANBU Shinobi they had ever had. The Uchiha clan themselves were the biggest protestors as the demon fox had killed more Uchiha than any other clan due to the fact that besides the ANBU the Uchiha were the main enforcers of the law and guardians of Konoha's security. They didn't like the idea that their prodigy had been assigned to protect what they viewed as the largest threat to Konoha.

The protests were ignored and Itachi despite some initial distrust of Naruto grew to like the spirited boy and he kept the villagers from attacking Naruto though he couldn't stop their glares and cruel comments about "the demon brat" and "child of a whore" from reaching the impressionable child.

Naruto wanted more than anything to gain the approval of the villagers and so was constantly pulling pranks and more importantly vowing to become the next Hokage. Personally Itachi thought that Naruto would become a great Hokage with his potential if he would just calm down a little. Itachi and the Third along with Naruto's teacher at the Ninja Academy, Iruka, had noticed that besides the whisker-like marks on Naruto's cheeks and his incredible healing abilities, Naruto had never shown any indication that he held the Nine-Tails within him. Even then Naruto had an incredible amount of Chakra that the Third was adamant about that the fox having no influence in. If Naruto would calm down and take his studies more seriously then he would surpass even the Fourth in skill. Something besides the fox was giving Naruto incredible chakra levels and stamina. Itachi and Iruka thought that it might be a bloodline of some kind and the Third never exactly denied it though the Third never confirmed it either. The Third insisted that he didn't know who Naruto's parents were but Itachi knew he was lying and he wanted to know why so he had done some digging in the Hokage's files when the Third was out and what he had discovered had shocked him and he knew then why Naruto's parents were kept secret. Itachi promised himself that unless it was an emergency he would never reveal this secret that was beyond S-Rank.

One day Naruto was walking to his new apartment complex after the lady who owned the orphanage had kicked him out after saying that animals weren't allowed in the building. Itachi and Jiji, what Naruto called the Third Hokage, hadn't been very happy though they couldn't do anything about it. Naruto would have liked his new apartment if it wasn't for the fact that at the age of five he was paying bills. He had decided to keep this secret from Itachi who was over quite often since he was his bodyguard though Naruto had never understood why he needed a guard in the first place. The villagers had stopped beating on him last year after Itachi had removed one of the villager's arms.

Naruto didn't have much money left over after paying his bills usually so he was left with only enough to get poor items at the stores because the shopkeepers didn't like him and only gave him the out-of-date stuff or things like his orange jumpsuit which he pretended to like for Itachi and Jiji's sakes.

One night when Naruto was walking home from the park distraught from having been rejected after having tried to play with the other kids, Naruto was waylaid by some of the parents who were upset that the "demon child" was speaking to their children. Naruto screamed out in pain as he was kicked around. "PLEASE STOP, I DIN"T DO ANYTHING TO YOU OR YOUR CHILDREN!" Naruto screamed out.

"DON'T LIE DEMON! WE SAW YOU! YOU WERE TRYING TO CORRUPT OUR CHILDREN!" One of the parents, an Uchiha by the looks of it, gave a rather vicious kick to Naruto's ribs causing him to scream in pain as his ribs broke from the force of the kick. Nearby the other villagers just ignored it while making sure there were no children nearby. The Shinobi who were nearby just ignored the events going on nearby thinking that if they didn't see it they would be able to get away with not doing anything about it.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Shouted a voice that made Naruto's hopes soared. Itachi Uchiha was standing their looking furious.

"Hey Itachi, glad you could join us," said the more stupid looking of the two Uchiha that were beating up Naruto. The other Uchiha just took one look at Itachi's expression and tried to shut his partner up to no avail as the first one just gave another kick at Naruto. The strangest thing though was that something was repelling him and before he knew it he had been sent flying by some strange force. The Uchiha landed in a heap holding his ribs in pain. Whatever the force was that had repelled him it had cracked his ribs. Itachi watched in wonder as Naruto rose up in obvious pain. When Naruto looked up and glared at the injured Uchiha, Itachi took a step back in shock. Where Naruto's eyes had previously been a light blue they now, including the white of his eyes, were characterized by a ripple-like pattern around the pupil, with a light purple iris and sclera.

Naruto shouted something but Itachi was too distracted to hear it. Suddenly the two perpetrators were sent flying and their chests looked like something had hit them with tremendous force. The two hit the ground hard some feet away and coughed up blood before collapsing and becoming still. Naruto then passed out and Itachi got over his shock at Naruto's show of power. Itachi picked up Naruto gently and rushed him to the hospital as fast as was safely possible.

Itachi had to cast a Genjutsu on them because the medics refused to treat Naruto saying that he deserved to die. Itachi had to restrain himself though he felt a little angry at himself for not being able to control his emotions but Naruto always brought the humanity out in him though he was technically a trained killer who specialized in assassinations.

Itachi focused all of his chakra on keeping the Genjutsu on Naruto. He had to keep it up so the medical ninja that were currently healing Naruto's ribs didn't detect it. To do so Itachi had cast more than one Genjutsu on Naruto to add an extra layer of protection. In no time at all the medics had healed him though Itachi had to grab Naruto and flee when the medics had finally seen the Genjutsu and noticed that Naruto healed faster than was humanly possible. This was one time Itachi was happy that Naruto had the fox sealed inside him as it along with the medics had healed Naruto in no time at all despite the life threatening nature of his injuries.

Soon, Itachi and Naruto arrived at the Hokage's tower with Naruto sleeping soundly in Itachi's arms. Sarutobi was waiting as he had sensed Itachi and Naruto's arrival and so he gratefully put away the Hokage's greatest enemy: the dreaded paperwork. _Naruto's chakra feels different somehow. It feels like his chakra has become more open like a huge damn has broken and this is Naruto's real power with no influence of the fox behind it._ Thought Sarutobi.

Naruto woke up to a soft silk blanket lying on his body. Naruto was confused. The last thing he remembered was being beaten. Naruto realized that if he covered in a blanket then he must have been rescued. _Itachi saved me._ Thought Naruto gleefully. Itachi was always there to save him and Naruto hoped that he always would be.

Naruto looked around then and realized he was the Hokage's study. Itachi must have brought him here. Naruto realized then that something was wrong with his vision. He couldn't see in color. Suddenly Itachi and the Hokage walked in and Naruto could see something flowing through their bodies. It was a blue color and was flowing through every inch of their bodies and seemed to be coming from a central point in their chests. "What's going on? Why can't I see any color and what's that blue stuff? It looks like its flowing inside of you."

"This confirms it." Mused the Third Hokage. Naruto looked confused at this. "Naruto," said the Hokage, "You have a Kekkei Genkai. And not just any Kekkei Genkai, but a Dōjutsu or visual technique." The Hokage could tell Naruto was confused so he elaborated, "A Kekkei Genkai or Bloodline is a special ability. It usually crops up in clans such as the Hyūga or Uchiha clans here in Konoha. Now there are three special Kekkei Genkai known as Dōjutsu in the world. Itachi and I believe that you possess such abilities. We believe that you possess the legendary Samsara Eye, the Rinnegan, which is now considered to be myth. It is said that there was a Shinobi of such power that he could even be considered a god and it was said that he possessed the Rinnegan. Your eyes fit all the descriptions of what the Rinnegan was said to look like. Congratulations, Naruto."

Naruto was amazed and astonished he possessed such power. He couldn't wait to figure out what he could do. Then he realized the Hokage had mentioned the Uchiha clan in his description. Naruto looked at Itachi and asked, "What bloodline does the Uchiha clan possess Itachi?"

"The Uchiha clan also possesses one of the Dōjutsu. We possess the Sharingan or Copy-Wheel Eye. It was named as such for its ability to see through most jutsu and duplicate and counter them. Things appear to move slower than they really do to us of the Uchiha clan who have unlocked the Sharingan. I myself gained it at Age 8 and have now mastered it to its full capabilities," stated Itachi in a matter of fact tone though Naruto could tell Itachi was trying to hold in his dislike for something.

"What's wrong Itachi?" Inquired Naruto.

Itachi sighed and reluctantly answered Naruto's question, "Most Uchiha take the Sharingan for granted and believe that it makes them all powerful. All jutsu, even Dōjutsu, have weaknesses Naruto, I want you to remember that, and when you discover what you can do, never become overconfident in your abilities. There is always a bigger fish as they say. The Uchiha clan would be much better off if they would remember that a tool, no matter how powerful, is still just a tool."

"I promise to remember that for all time Itachi and one day I will surpass you and the Hokage and become Hokage myself."

Itachi actually gave a genuine smile, not a smirk like Uchiha were known for, but a genuine smile. The Hokage just laughed, "I have no doubt you'll do just that Naruto. Within you I see the Will of Fire burning within you. And when you believe in yourself and your fellow Leaf Shinobi there is nothing you won't be able to do when you set your mind to it."

"I won't let you down Old Man. I will surpass you one day, I promise, and I always keep my promises," stated Naruto in a proud tone of voice.

Meanwhile Itachi was thinking hard on something. _Naruto needs to know so that he can't be taken advantage of anymore. The Hokage won't be happy with me if he finds out I've broken his law. I could be executed for this so I'll have to convince Naruto that he can't let anyone know that I told him until after I leave Konoha. I have no doubt that the council will ask me to betray my clan someday with the way things are going downhill. I just hope I have enough time to prepare Naruto for his future. It will have to be soon. Father is suspicious of me as it is. He isn't happy that I spend so much time with Naruto. I just wish it hadn't come to this; I would have like to have one day retired from ANBU officially and become Naruto and Saskue's sensei. They would be good friends but Saskue looks up to Father just as much as he looks up to me. And I think Father is trying to turn Saskue away from following my chosen path. _Itachi was shaken out of his thoughts when the Hokage cleared his throat to get attention. "I apologize Lord Hokage. I was distracted."

"I understand Itachi." The Third gave Itachi a look of pity that Itachi didn't want to see, but Itachi knew that his Hokage would look at him like that knowing what Itachi was being forced to go through by the council. Itachi was forced to spy on his own clan when he wasn't watching Naruto. With the deaths of two Uchiha at his hands to save Naruto of all people, Itachi had taken the blame for Naruto's actions to protect Naruto; Itachi would be under close scrutiny from his Father and the other co-conspirators in the Uchiha clan's plans for the Coup de Taut to take over Konoha.

Itachi was loyal to Konoha and his Hokage before he would be loyal to a bunch of arrogant, self-righteous, hypocritical fools who had no idea of what Itachi was capable of even by their standards. All he had to remember was that he was doing this for Saskue and Naruto. He wouldn't let them grow up in the middle of a civil war. He would make Saskue hate him so that one day Itachi could pay for the crimes he was committing to protect the ones he cared about. It was that emotion of love for his little brother and the one he considered a little brother that he would protect them even if they saw him as a traitor.

Itachi felt something falling down his cheek. When he wiped his cheek he was amazed that he was crying. He hadn't cried for a very long time. Itachi knew it was the Uchiha clan conditioning that told him to never show emotion but he knew he had to let it out even if it was in private. So Itachi cried for Saskue and Naruto's futures. His only hope was that one day he would pay for his crimes and only then would Itachi accept that he could have the peace he loved so much.

Soon the time had come. In the time leading up to this bleak day Itachi had trained Naruto in the use of his Rinnegan. Itachi had been amazed. Apparently the Rinnegan contained genetic memories. They had discovered many abilities with the help of the memories along with some obscure scrolls with limited information on the Rinnegan's powers. Apparently Naruto could control gravity to an extent using two jutsu named **Shinra Tensei** and **Banshō Ten'in** to repel or attract targets to or away from Naruto. Naruto could also absorb chakra through his hands but the technique wasn't very useful. The most useful ability besides the gravity jutsu was that Naruto could summon certain animals; they had the Rinnegan as well and were completely under the control of their summoned, though Naruto had some trouble with this ability because summoning required precision chakra control.

Still, Itachi was amazed at the sheer number of abilities the Rinnegan came with. He thought that there might be others but Naruto would have to discover them on his own. Naruto had recently started at the Ninja Academy and much to his and to Naruto's dismay the teachers hated Naruto though they were wary since they weren't familiar with Naruto's new appearance. Naruto had taken to abandoning his signature orange jumpsuit and taken to dressing like Itachi. Saskue had started as well and was instantly popular much to Naruto's distaste and Itachi's dismay. The popularity would give Saskue an ego most likely since it proved that Saskue wasn't just following in Itachi's shadow. It also made Naruto angry since Naruto knew the reason he wasn't liked by any of the adults or the kids that the adults had set against him, though the children didn't know the real reason that Naruto was disliked. They just thought that Naruto was a hooligan who was wearing strange contacts to try and make it appear if the clan less orphan had a bloodline so that he could get attention.

Itachi had told Naruto what had been imprisoned in him as well as who had been his parents. Naruto hadn't taken it very well. In fact he had been furious that such secrets of such delicacy had been kept for him. After calming him down, Itachi had explained what he believed to the Third Hokage's reasoning even if he didn't agree with it. Itachi had also made Naruto promise never to tell anyone that Itachi had revealed the truth to him unless something happened to Itachi and Itachi couldn't protect him anymore. He also made Naruto promise to hide the full extent of his abilities so that the council didn't have an excuse to get rid of him or turn him into a weapon until after he became a ninja so that the council didn't have any say in his future.

That night Itachi began the final mission given to him by the council. One that he accepted with all of his heart which he immediately turned cold so that no one could see his pain. Itachi had earlier met a man named Madara Uchiha who was amazingly alive even after the history books declared him dead after his battle with Hashirama Senju. The man was very old but still very powerful. Itachi had agreed to Madara's help in destroying the Uchiha clan as well as learning how to use his new Mangekyō Sharingan that he had gained after killing his best friend Shisui who had discovered his real allegiance.

With Madara's help the Uchiha clan was caught completely off guard and crushed in no time. Itachi soon felt Saskue's impressive chakra. "What's going on?" shouted Saskue as he came in and saw his father and mother's dead bodies with Itachi standing over them. "What happened big brother? Who did this to are clan?" Itachi just stayed silent and watched as Saskue saw the blood on Itachi's armor and began to put things into order. As Itachi watched Saskue begin to shake his head in horrified denial Madara slipped out of Konoha as he had agreed when he made the deal with Itachi. If anything Madara was a man of his word. As long as Itachi lived Saskue would never be told the truth of what had happened unless told to by Itachi himself or by Naruto Uzumaki should Naruto figure the whole truth out.

Madara looked forward to the day Itachi died, though he wouldn't do it himself, that had been part of the deal, but when Itachi died all bets were off and he would tell Saskue the truth while twisting things so that he could manipulate Saskue into following the Curse of Hatred that all Uchiha, except Itachi it seemed, suffered from. Madara eagerly began planning what he would say when that day came. Soon all of his plans would come to fruition. He had begun constructing a group of S-Class Missing-Nin that could defeat the nine Jinchūriki and claim the Tailed beasts so that he could complete his Eye of the Moon Plan. Madara gave an evil laugh that if anyone had heard it they would be cowering under a rock praying to Kami that whatever had made the sound never found them.

Back at the Uchiha compound Saskue had finally regained control of his mouth and began shouting, "WHY BIG BROTHER? WHY DID YOU KILL THEM? WHYYY?"

"They sickened me my pathetic little brother," said Itachi coldly though on the inside he was crying. "The clan was weak. Full of squabbling old fools who could never grasp what was right in front of them, but I did. I rose up becoming the strongest Uchiha since the elder days in the time of are ancestor Madara. I have obtained the ultimate tool of are clan. Look into my eyes Saskue and witness true power." Saskue couldn't resist and watched as Itachi's blood red Sharingan eyes began to spin until the tomoe seal took the form of a windmill shuriken. Saskue stared in horror as Itachi, unknown to Saskue who could only see Itachi's cold, emotionless face, sorrowfully said, "This is the Mangekyō Sharingan, the pinnacle of are clan. Now witness its power. **Tsukuyomi**!" Saskue looked on horrified as his perception changed and Itachi forced him to watch the murders of their clan. Itachi's cold voice sounded, "For seventy-two hours you will witness the death of the clan being replayed in your mind over and over."

Saskue screamed as he tried to block the sight. After three seconds had passed in the real world Itachi deactivated the Mangekyō Sharingan as Saskue woke up from the **Tsukuyomi** induced visions. Saskue looked at Itachi fearfully and Itachi saw that Saskue's Sharingan had awoken. This made Itachi smile on the inside while on the outside Itachi stared coldly at his beloved little brother, the only one beside Naruto to make him feel complete and happy. Itachi had to summon all of his will power and ANBU training to not break down and cry right there. It would not be good if he blew everything because he couldn't control his emotions. "Now little brother," Itachi said as he began his farewell speech to Saskue, "if you want to avenge are clan accept your hatred of me and use to surpass me for as you are now you are nothing." Saskue came alive at that and screamed in hatred as he charged at Itachi with one of the blunted kunai of the Academy.

Itachi grabbed Saskue's hands and coldly snapped his wrists. Saskue screamed in pain as his Sharingan faded from his eyes and he held his broken wrist to his body, cradling it like a baby. Itachi just continued his speech, ignoring his brothers pathetic crying, "Like me you may be one of the few capable of using Mangekyō Sharingan. To obtain this you must first betray your best friend." Saskue looked horrified at that but it just got worst as Itachi continued, "You must betray him and then kill him." With one last look at Saskue's face, a face that Itachi's Sharingan had burned into his memory for all eternity, Itachi gave a chakra enhanced punch to Saskue's gut. Saskue faded into unconsciousness as he fell to the ground with a thump.

Itachi quickly left the Uchiha compound after that and travelled to his next place of visit before he would leave Konoha and begin his life as a Missing-Nin. Itachi quickly arrived at Naruto's apartment and scanned for the boy that he had promised to visit tonight. And sure enough, there on the couch lay Naruto, sound asleep like a baby. Itachi crossed the room silently and shook Naruto awake. Naruto sat up groggily as he took in his visitors form. He quickly woke up when he realized who it was. 'Itachi," shouted Naruto gleefully.

It was then that Naruto noticed the blood on Itachi. "Itachi, your hurt," cried out Naruto.

Itachi shook his head and said, "It isn't my blood Naruto. This village has become weak and corrupt so I have decided to leave it." Naruto shook his head in disbelief. His first friend, the one he looked up to as a brother, was abandoning him. Itachi continued his final farewell speech, "As a farewell gift to you I have eliminated all of the Uchiha clan except for myself and my little brother Saskue." Naruto was horrified by this. He had never wanted anything like that.

"My clan were the traitors first Naruto," said Itachi when he saw Naruto's face.

Naruto was highly confused at this and so asked, "But if they were traitors then why are you leaving?"

"Naruto," said Itachi warily, "What I did was still a crime. I took the law into my own hands. Now promise me you will never tell Saskue the truth of what happened. I don't want him to hate you for something you had nothing to do with. Just pretend that I betrayed you as well. Saskue will be out for my blood, I have crossed the line."

Crying, Naruto said, "Okay Itachi, my non-blood Big Brother."

Smiling Itachi left but not before saying, "I'm sorry I won't get to see you become Hokage, my non-blood little brother. Become strong and protect your precious people and bonds of friendship and love with all of your heart even if they betray you or hurt you. Never live in hatred and you will become the greatest Hokage that ever existed." And with that Itachi left with Naruto realizing he may never see Itachi again. Naruto fell to the ground crying his heart out for the first time in many years.

As the years passed by and the seasons changed from spring and summer to fall and winter, the village of Konoha remained the same as life went on. Naruto trained hard to master the abilities of his Rinnegan under the proud and watchful eyes of the Third Hokage and his new sensei Iruka, one of the teachers at the Academy. Naruto took the graduation test twice but failed because he had too much chakra to perform the **Clone Jutsu**. He also became even more of a prankster and was always in some kind of trouble. He kept his real strength hidden from his classmates and became known as the dead last.

Saskue recovered from his physical injuries that Itachi inflicted on him but the mental scars were too deep for therapy and the doctors allowed Saskue to quit because the village was still unaware of the truth and the few people who knew it weren't going to talk. Saskue became an avenger and vowed to one day kill Itachi and then rebuild his clan. Even though his Sharingan had become sealed away by the mental stress and Saskue forgot about ever activating it, only remembering the pain Itachi inflicted on him. Saskue eventually became the best in his class. He was slated to become Rookie of the Year.

Naruto kept his promise to Itachi and never told Saskue the truth though Naruto had tried to reach out to him only to be shunned. With Itachi's so-called betrayal the villagers hated Naruto more than ever before. They illogically blamed him for such a prodigy's betrayal and if it wasn't for Iruka coming to his senses and realizing that Naruto wasn't the Nine-Tails, Naruto would probably be dead or classified a traitor if he had defended himself. The Hokage became further limited in power though he tried to protect Naruto the best he could. Naruto ignored the pain though and kept up his façade of happiness that only Iruka and the Third could see through. The two honored Naruto's wishes to be underestimated.

Naruto would continue to be underestimated by Konoha and when they least expected it; he would rise up and show his true colors as a prodigy on Itachi's level.


	2. Chapter 2

THE CHRONICLES OF NARUTO

Graduation and Mission to Wave Arcs

EPISODE 2: GRADUATION

Naruto ran as fast as he could, laughing his head off. Naruto had played the ultimate joke. He had just recently placed paint all over the Hokage monument as a prank. Currently he was being chased by many Jonin and Chūnin who were out for his blood, figuratively anyone, or at least he hoped so. Naruto saw up ahead with his Rinnegan and noticed his Academy teacher Iruka up ahead. Naruto screeched to a stop as Iruka glared down at him.

"What the hell did you think you were doing Naruto?" Shouted Iruka. "Painting the Hokage monument! Do you have no respect for Konoha's leadership? Damn it Naruto. Come with me right now were going to see the Hokage." Naruto just smiled as he noticed that despite his act of outrage Iruka was having a hard time not laughing. Naruto knew that Iruka had once been a notorious prankster and so he partly did pranks to make Iruka who was the only one besides Itachi and the Third Hokage to show him any kindness or even respect for that matter. The other reason was so he could get revenge on the villagers that Itachi had sacrificed himself for. One day he would become Hokage and change the village into a better place and he told this to everyone who'd listen and shout it at anyone who told him he couldn't do it.

Naruto had tried to befriend Saskue but Saskue had become cold on the night of the Uchiha Massacre as it had come to be called. Saskue had become obsessed with getting stronger and one day killing his brother. So Saskue trained day after day, night after lonely night. The fact that he didn't move out of the Uchiha compound despite the Third's request to do so showed just how obsessed he had become. The public ignored the darker aspects of Saskue's psyche though and practically worshipped the ground he walked on. It was sickening to Naruto that an Uchiha that wasn't Itachi was being worshipped. Naruto didn't know the full details of that night but he knew that Itachi had an ulterior motive than the motive he had given himself or the explanation Naruto suspected he gave Saskue if Saskue's hatred was any indication.

Naruto shook his head back and forth in a sign of misery. Naruto knew that Saskue would most likely never recover from whatever Itachi had been forced to do to him to sell Itachi's deception. One of Naruto's goals was to reunite the remaining members of the Uchiha clan and force them to reconcile. Maybe then the chain of hatred the Uchiha clan exemplified would finally be broken, or at least Naruto could dream for that to be true.

It was the day of the Genin graduation exam. Naruto was happy. He was done failing his exam on purpose, well mostly on purpose. He still couldn't do the **Clone Jutsu** to save his life. He had too much chakra to mold. Even if he could control his chakra well enough thanks to being able to see how much chakra he used with his Rinnegan. His Kage-class chakra levels had always surprised Itachi and his chakra levels continued to grow as he got older. Naruto smiled at this. Most people would think that it was because of the fox in his stomach that gave him his chakra levels but that wasn't completely true. Itachi had told him that the Third Hokage had told him that the seal on Naruto's stomach was slowly and constantly converting the Nine-Tails' chakra into Naruto's own. Add in his Rinnegan which required a constant chakra cost so he became used to the strain and training with it had raised his chakra level even further.

Naruto liked to believe that he could fight on the level of the five Kage's, but Naruto knew he would be defeated. He knew that lots of jutsu and chakra didn't make a Shinobi. Experience did. Itachi had taught him that. In fact he had drilled it into Naruto's head for years that experience and the will to win would always conquer sheer power. Itachi had said that this had been the Uchiha clan's weakness. Itachi had said they used the Sharingan as a crutch and not as the tool that in truth was what many Kekkei Genkai were. In a way Konoha's love for bloodlines weakened the village because its Shinobi relied on them too much. Their worship of Saskue was proof of that enough.

Naruto shook off these thoughts and returned to his dilemma on how he was going to make a working clone. It would be better if he could do the **Shadow Clone Jutsu**. It was a forbidden jutsu Itachi had said, because of the high chakra cost. Itachi had mentioned once that he thought Naruto would be exempt from this due to his enormous chakra levels. Add in his incredible stamina and healing factor that Naruto knew he got from the fox and Naruto would be a force to be reckoned with. The problem was that Naruto knew that the **Shadow Clone Jutsu** was written on the Forbidden Scroll and that was highly guarded by the Hokage and the ANBU. Itachi had said as much.

Naruto walked into the classroom and sat down solemnly as he dreaded what was coming next. Iruka and his fellow teacher Mizuki walked afterwards. Naruto didn't like Mizuki and Mizuki certainly didn't like him. Mizuki hated him because of the fox. That had been obvious. Naruto hated Mizuki because something about him just rubbed Naruto the wrong way.

"Hey dead last get out of my seat," shouted the loud and arrogant voice of Kiba Inuzuka. The kid was loud. Even louder than Naruto pretended to be and that was saying something. He was also very arrogant. He could give Saskue a run for his money in that department. Naruto didn't like him and looked forward to the day he could make Kiba look like a fool in front of the entire village. The Chūnin Exams could provide this opportunity. Granted it would only happen if his Jonin Sensei thought to enter him and his team which he knew would most likely consist of Saskue and their classmate Sakura Haruno. Itachi had explained to him once the dead last, the rookie of the year, and the top academy Kunoichi were usually put together to balance the teams out. Naruto smirked at this. This ideal was the basis for his acting like a fool. He was making sure he was on Saskue's team. Sakura was a fan-girl and worshipped Saskue like most of the idiot bimbo's that populated this year's graduating class. If she didn't shape up soon she would die, most likely on her first C-rank mission.

"HEY! Are you even listening?" Shouted Kiba angrily.

Naruto decided to mess with Kiba and imitated his current guardian. Naruto said lazily, "Sorry. Did you say something?"

Kiba was so surprised that Naruto didn't yell at him like he normally did when insulted. Kiba wasn't the only one surprised. Most of the class that had heard Naruto's response had expected Naruto, who they considered more of an idiot than even Kiba, to not make this into a shouting match. Instead he gave a calm, lazy response. Iruka who had heard this laughed to himself. _Figures he would give not only a hint to his real personality but disguise the hint by imitating Kakashi. Kakashi, I think you've corrupted Naruto. I know you were assigned as his ANBU guardian after Itachi turned traitor but I didn't think you had all that much influence._

Iruka then walked in and shouted, "EVERYONE SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!" Everyone was quick to obey. Iruka had two gifts when it came to his students. The first was putting all but the most dedicated to sleep with his lectures and the second was making his class be quite. Iruka smiled at the sudden silence as everyone even Kiba sat up ramrod straight in their desk. Everyone that is except Naruto who had seemingly fallen asleep. Iruka gained a tick mark on his forehead and walked straight up to Naruto's desk. Iruka grabbed one of Naruto's text books and dropped it on Naruto's head. Naruto woke up with a start pulling out a kunai and throwing it at Iruka. The class stared, not because of Naruto's reaction though that too caught them by surprise, but because when Iruka had dodged the kunai the kunai had hit the wall. That wasn't the surprising part though. The surprising part was that the kunai had gone clean through the wall and out into the academy training field.

_He infused that kunai with Wind Chakra_, thought Mizuki and Iruka. The students didn't realize just what Naruto had done only that it had been a miracle. Most of them just passed it off as a fluke but some of the smarter ones like Saskue or Shikamaru Nara knew that something else had gone on. No normal kunai would have gone through the wall like that. That was no accident. Naruto had done something to that kunai. Saskue seethed in anger. _How could the dobe do something like that?_ Saskue had quite forgotten that Itachi and Naruto had once been close. Naruto's act of being the fool had succeeded in making people forget how close he and Itachi had been.

Mizuki was worried. No academy student, not even Saskue Uchiha and certainly not the dead last could manipulate elemental chakra. Nature manipulation was a Chūnin level skill. There had been exceptions in the past such as Kakashi Hatake or Itachi Uchiha who were genius' among other genius'. The question was how could the dead last do something even some Elite Chūnin such as himself had trouble doing. Did it have something to do with those strange eyes of his? No normal person had eyes like that. Mizuki would expect red eyes with slits for pupils like those of the Nine-Tailed Fox not purplish-grey eyes with a ripple like pattern surrounding the pupil and moving outward. Were they some of bloodline like the Sharingan or Byakugan, a Dōjutsu of some sort?

Mizuki didn't know the answer to his question but it didn't change his plans. Even if he had a Dōjutsu, the Nine-tails was still an idiot and wouldn't know how to use his bloodline, if it even was one. Mizuki watched with glee as one by one the students began their tests. When Mizuki passed out the written tests he could have sworn that he saw the Nine-tails brat glare at him when the brat saw his test. The brat's test was one that a Chūnin would have trouble on but the boy couldn't know that, the test was disguised by a Genjutsu to look like the Genin test.

Naruto growled at his so-called instructor's idiocy. It was obvious Naruto had a Dōjutsu, which was the weakness of the Rinnegan, it couldn't be deactivated, of some sort and the one thing all Dōjutsu had in common was that they could see chakra and therefore tell when a Genjutsu was in play. The Byakugan or even the Rinnegan couldn't see through Genjutsu that was the Sharingan's specialty, but it didn't matter Naruto could still see the chakra around the test paper. Naruto had had enough of this. Naruto raised his hand.

Mizuki noticed the hand and became worried. Before Iruka could say anything Mizuki said, "What do you need Uzumaki?"

Naruto tried to keep his emotions under control like Itachi and Kakashi had both taught him but he was still unable to keep his eye from twitching in anger. "My paper sir," began Naruto, "It has a Genjutsu on it."

Kiba couldn't keep his mouth shut at this point, "And how would you know dobe? Genjutsu is your worst subject."

Naruto couldn't help it; he couldn't afford to keep some of his abilities secret anymore. "My eyes, you idiot. They allow me to see chakra and therefore I can detect Genjutsu with ease."

"I'm an idiot? You're just a dobe; I don't believe you and lying about your test won't make it any easier. All you're doing is taking time away from the rest of us to finish are tests."

At that Naruto snapped. He ran through a sequence of hand seals and was about to call out a jutsu when Iruka grabbed his hands before he could complete the final hand seal. The class looked stunned. They had always seen Naruto as an idiot and their parents always told him that he was a good for nothing hooligan that would never amount to anything and here he was going through hand seals and based on the looks their teachers were giving Naruto, Naruto had been about to use a jutsu on Kiba. Saskue couldn't believe his eyes. He recognized that jutsu to be **Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu**. Saskue couldn't understand how the dobe could know a fire jutsu let alone be able to go through the hands seals even faster than he himself could. Something about the dobe seemed off and Saskue just realized that Naruto knew more than he let on.

"Everyone finish your tests. Naruto you and I will be talking after the test is done," Iruka said with a glare. Naruto looked down at his desk in shame. He had lost his temper and would have hurt Kiba, a fellow student and future leaf Shinobi, if Iruka hadn't stopped him. Itachi and Kakashi would be ashamed of him. Naruto just sucked up his complaints about the test and sat there looking at his Genjutsu'ed test. He couldn't believe that he lost his temper so quickly. Naruto sighed as he stared at his test.

Soon the timer for the test went off and Naruto realized he hadn't answered one question. He knew he would have gotten them wrong thanks to the Genjutsu. Naruto was bad at getting rid of Genjutsu or casting even though he could detect them with his Rinnegan. He just had too much chakra to ever be good at Genjutsu. Iruka and Mizuki gathered up the student's tests with Mizuki making sure that he was the one who picked up Naruto's test so that he could remove the Genjutsu without Iruka's knowledge.

After the written tests were picked up, Iruka announced that the next part of the exam was the weapons test. The students headed out back. Naruto knew that he couldn't hide his abilities anymore if he wanted to pass this exam and become a Genin. Naruto readied himself. As each student went by and threw kunai and shuriken at the targets Naruto was taking deep breaths as he watched. Saskue of course scored perfectly. Soon it was Naruto's turn. He took deep breaths as he walked up, ignoring the whispered taunts from his peers. Naruto noticed out of the corner of his eye that Saskue was watching him with a look of suspicion on his face. Naruto smirked to himself. He would give Saskue something to think about.

Naruto pulled out his special kunai and skuriken. Iruka noticed the pitch black metal of Naruto's weapons. "Naruto those aren't the standard academy issue, they aren't even standard Shinobi issue."

"That's because they are specially designed weapons that absorb chakra like normal chakra metals but these are set to a specific chakra frequency which allow me to send chakra to them even from a distance. The only price is that I had to have chakra receivers implanted in my arms so I could send chakra through them." After saying this Naruto pulled up his long, baggy sleeves and showed the class his pale arms which had black node-like objects implanted in them running from his should down to his forearm. There were six nodes in each arm. The class and teachers were stunned. They didn't understand why Naruto would do such a thing to his arms. The pain from having the nodes inserted would have been great so why would Naruto, the dobe, go through it when regular weapons worked just as well. What good would it be if he place chakra in the weapons from a distance.

As if he had read their minds Naruto began to explain, "Using these special weapons I can insert my chakra into the people they had become implanted in and disrupt that person's chakra by replacing it with my own. Completely paralyzing their bodies and giving me partial control of them. It's a special ability of my eyes which allow me to control and set my chakra at specific frequencies."

The class was stunned. The dobe had a bloodline. But how? Their parents always told them that Naruto was a clan-less child of a whore. The dobe had to be lying. "Stop lying, you don't have a bloodline," shouted Kiba.

"Is that what your parents told you?" asked Naruto. His tone sent a chill up everyone's backs. It didn't sound like the dobe. He was a happy go-lucky idiot who could never understand that he was being insulted.

What Naruto did next was very surprising. When he threw the weapons in his hand, they all landed dead center. He had thrown them two at a time but his aim could not be denied. Iruka smiled, "Well done Naruto, I can see you've been practicing."

Naruto smiled as well when he answered Iruka, "Thank you Iruka-Sensei. Your faith gave me the courage to stand against persecution." Iruka's smile became even more pronounced. The students were whispering amongst themselves. The Naruto in front of them just didn't match up with their parent's views or their own preconceptions and they were having trouble reconciling with the fact that they were wrong. Well that is, some of them were. Others still held onto their feelings such as Sakura Haruno, a pink haired girl from a civilian family who was also the smartest person in the class, and Kiba.

Sakura glared at Naruto thinking that the little twerp was just trying to act like Saskue and Kiba couldn't stand the fact that "the dobe" had done better than him and even a slightly bit better than Saskue in fact. Naruto just glared at his least favorite people in the world. Sakura was always hitting him over the head when he insulted Saskue or when she thought he was doing something to spite her precious Saskue. Kiba was an arrogant mutt who didn't know when to just roll over. He was constantly thinking he could challenge Saskue and the only thing he was better at Saskue in was Taijutsu and that was only because Inuzuka's had more muscle mass than Uchiha's like Saskue and so greater strength and speed. Saskue had way more finesse and better accuracy than the mutt. Naruto himself was faster than Kiba and had more finesse than Saskue. Therefore he was better at Taijutsu and Kenjutsu than they were.

After Ino Yamanaka, a blond girl from a clan specializing in techniques related to the mind and Sakura's rival in the hunt for Saskue's affections, finished Iruka announced the beginning of the Taijutsu test. Mizuki would be the examiner for the test. The students were told they had to stand up against Mizuki who would be using the academy-issue Taijutsu style. They were allowed to use whatever Taijutsu style they knew. Iruka would call the match after five minutes. The students would be tested on their speed and accuracy, on how proper their stance is, and how long they last against Mizuki.

The students who thought that their teacher wouldn't be a difficult challenge soon found out just how much they as Academy students stood against someone of Chūnin rank despite him just being a simple academy instructor. Most students didn't make it past three minutes despite Mizuki taking it easy on them. Saskue managed to get through all five by using his clan's Interceptor Fist style of Taijutsu even if it was obvious to anyone who had seen the style that he hadn't perfected it yet. Naruto growled to himself as he saw the fan girls cooing and giggling to themselves that "their Saskue" was so cool. Saskue had managed to keep up with Mizuki only because Mizuki was stuck with the academy styles of Taijutsu.

The academy only taught the basics of three fighting forms known as Strong Form, Medium Form, and Fast Form. All Taijutsu styles were derived from these three forms. They were the basis for creating one's own Taijutsu style though most ninja only practiced until they at least proficient in one of the forms. The Strong Form was the basis of the Strong Fist fighting style created by Might Guy. The form focused on sheer physical strength with Guy's derivation taking those concepts to incredible heights by adding speed into it. The Fast form was the basis of the Hyūga clan's Gentle Fist though they probably wouldn't admit it. The form focused on grace and proficiency rather than brute force like the Strong Form. People who trained in the fast form were taught to strike with swift strikes to disorient and/or disable the enemy. The final form, the Medium form, focused on a balanced combination of the other two academy taught forms. The interceptor fist fighting style, and the style's many sub-styles, of the Uchiha Clan was the best example of the perfection of this form. There were many other derivations of the academy taught forms besides the Interceptor Fist, Strong Fist, and Gentle Fist but those three were probably the most notable. Academy instructors like Mizuki usually only practiced the basics of the forms, much like the students they taught so that the students could decide whether they want to train in the form more after graduation or learn one of the non-academy taught forms or styles. So when one of the instructors met with one of the Taijutsu styles like the Interceptor Fist they were hard pressed to counter it though Mizuki's superior strength and experience allowed him to hold Saskue off even with the basics.

Naruto smirked when his name was finally called. Naruto had been working the last few months with Kakashi on perfecting a new Taijutsu style that Naruto had spent years developing after Itachi had trained him in all of the basics. Kakashi had taught him the basics of the more advanced forms so that Naruto could effectively increase his speed but have the precision and accuracy the Strong Form and its derivations sacrificed and the strength the Gentle Fist sacrificed, not that it needed it. Naruto still remembered the time when he ticked one of the Hyūga clansmen off and they hit him with one of their techniques. Naruto was a generalist to the highest degree. He knew that if he wanted to, with his Rinnegan and incredible chakra levels, that he would be a very powerful Ninjutsu specialist but he wanted to at least generalize in his Taijutsu skills so he had learned all three forms as well as the basics of the more advanced forms that Itachi and later Kakashi had helped teach him. Naruto liked to think he was proficient in all three forms and would definitely last five minutes against Mizuki if not outright defeating him.

Naruto shook himself from his thoughts as he focused on Mizuki. Naruto slipped into his favorite opening stance knowing that it would tick Saskue off. Saskue was definitely angry since he recognized Naruto's stance as the opening stance of one of his clan's style's sub-styles. Saskue growled to himself that the dobe had somehow gotten his hands on one of his clan's scrolls, most likely through theft.

Mizuki recognized the stance as well, having fought Uchiha before. Mizuki didn't understand how the demon brat knew the stance but he would definitely not allow himself to be shown up again. Mizuki slipped into a non-academy Taijutsu form. Naruto's face went into a state of shock. Mizuki was definitely not using an academy-level Taijutsu style.

Naruto shook his head to clear his mind only in time to counter one of Mizuki's blows. Naruto winced. The location that Mizuki had hit stung and was definitely bruised. Iruka was shocked that Mizuki would fight Naruto like this and was about to say something when he noticed the look on Naruto's face. Iruka smiled at the look and knew Mizuki would regret challenging Naruto. Iruka was one of the few after all who knew that Naruto hid his strength as well as the fact that he possessed the legendary Rinnegan which somehow suppressed any influence the demon fox. Iruka had thought at first that Naruto's quick healing and high chakra levels were signs of the fox but Naruto had assured him those members of the now extinct Uzumaki clan, that Naruto was the last known surviving member of, had a bloodline which gave the Uzumaki incredible stamina, chakra, and healing ability. The fox certainly would have enhanced this bloodline but since the fox had no effect on Naruto besides the three whisker-like marks on his cheeks Iruka didn't really care. Naruto also suspected that the Rinnegan was a second bloodline of the Uzumaki clan but he had never told anyone why he thought this. The only thing he had said was that since the Rinnegan was constantly active it increased his chakra levels even higher, giving him near-Kage level chakra levels, so that the strain on his chakra was negligible.

Iruka watched as Naruto changed his stance to a more defensive form to better counter Mizuki's strong form-based fighting style. Naruto ducked under one of Mizuki's sweeping blows that would have probably broken a bone or two and gave a chakra-enhanced elbow blow to Mizuki's chest. Mizuki fell to his knees holding his injured chest. He didn't understand how the demon brat, the dead last of his class, could have hurt him like that.

"Well done Naruto. You've been practicing a lot haven't you?" Iruka smiled at Naruto as he said this and Naruto gave a large, bright smile in return.

"That's right Iruka-Sensei. I have to train a lot if I want to be Hokage one day," Naruto said happily.

"Well you've passed with full marks in this test. You managed to get under Mizuki-Sensei's guard and deal him a strong blow," said Iruka. He was very happy. Mizuki was too arrogant at times and this would teach him that if the dead last could land a blow when no one else could then Mizuki needed to train more in his spare time.

The students were staring at Naruto in shock at what he and no one else had succeeded at doing. Not even Saskue had managed more than a glancing blow to Mizuki's stomach before being pushed away and Naruto had given Mizuki a full blow to the chest. Hinata Hyūga and Kiba had done good as well, managing to last the full five minutes but they hadn't even done as well since Kiba used a purely offensive style so was pretty much off balance when Mizuki dodged his strikes and Mizuki did his best to avoid Hinata's gentle fist fighting style so Hinata's match was pretty much a pure defensive fight so no damage was done to either side.

"Alright," called out Iruka as the Taijutsu test was finished with Ino lasting only two minutes before being knocked over, which was better than Sakura Haruno who had only lasted a single minute before falling over after Mizuki tripped her. The class quieted down and Iruka continued his speech, "It's time for the final test. You will be tested on the three academy jutsu, the **Transformation Jutsu**, the **Substitution Jutsu**, and the **Clone Jutsu**. Depending on how you do will decide whether you pass or fail the exam since this part of the test counts for 60% of your final exam score."

Leading up to Naruto's turn only five people passed the exam perfectly though most of the class except for a couple of people who barely failed but were allowed to pass because of them scoring so high in the Taijutsu portion and the fact that they were only a percent or two off from passing the Ninjutsu exam. The five who had perfect scores were of course Saskue as well as Sakura, Kiba, Hinata and surprisingly the laziest person Naruto had ever met and also probably the only student besides Choji Akimichi or Hinata Hyūga who had ever acknowledged him. Shikamaru Nara. The laziness wasn't a surprise, Shikamaru was a male born of the Nara Clan after all and they were the laziest people on the planet. The surprising part was that Shikamaru had the second to worst grades with Naruto having the worst. Naruto knew this confirmed his suspicions. Naruto had always suspected the Nara Clan heir was a genius, how could he not be with who his father was?

Soon it was at last Naruto's turn. This was it. This was what Naruto had trained for. Today he would become a Genin. Naruto stepped up and perfectly performed a **Substitution** and **Transformation**, but when it came time to do the **Clone Jutsu** Naruto became very nervous. It was his worst technique after all. He had too much chakra to perform such a weak jutsu. It had taken him forever just to learn **Transformation **and **Substitution**. Sweating, Naruto formed the proper hand seal and focused on using as little chakra as possible. There was a puff of smoke and Naruto and Iruka looked on nervously while Mizuki was sweating that his plan might not work.

When the smoke cleared Naruto gained a look of abject horror while Mizuki had to work to keep his face emotionless. There were three clones, one more than was required, and they looked perfect. Much better than the normal sickly clones he usually produced. Except these clones while looking just like Naruto had one _minor_ problem. The clones had no arms.

Naruto trembled trying to suppress his emotions but when Iruka said, "I'm sorry Naruto, you fail." He had said it with such a tone of finality that Naruto's heart broke. Iruka continued, "You'll get it next year though." Iruka had said this in a soothing voice but Naruto and Iruka both knew that if a student failed three times they were cut from the training program and had their chakra sealed away.

Finally, Naruto ran from the room crying after Iruka rejected Mizuki's proposal to let him pass since he did so well on the other tests. Since he ran so quickly Naruto didn't hear Iruka yelling at the class to shut up when they started laughing and taunting him. Naruto ran out to the park and sat on the swings crying that he had let Iruka, Kakashi and the Hokage down, but most of all he had let down Itachi and _him_. They would be so disappointed in him. They had put so much effort into helping him learn and understand his powers.

Naruto looked up as he sensed someone's approach. It was Mizuki. Naruto was confused, why Mizuki would be here and not helping Iruka prepare for the graduation ceremony. "Hey Naruto," greeted Mizuki in a gentle voice. This put Naruto on guard. He didn't trust Mizuki. He didn't trust anyone if they weren't Iruka, the Hokage, Kakashi, Itachi, or _him_. Naruto waited for Mizuki to continue which he soon did after a slight pause, "Don't be upset kid. Don't take it personally; you know that if Iruka could he would bend the rules for you. You're his favorite student after all."

Naruto already knew this and he knew Mizuki knew it as well so why would Mizuki state it out loud like this? Naruto listened carefully as Mizuki took a deep breath for some reason as if he was preparing himself for something before saying, "Naruto there is another way for you to graduate," at this Naruto knew Mizuki was up to something, "there is a special scroll the Hokage holds onto for special cases like this." At this Mizuki took a look at Naruto and all he saw was a hopeful looking academy student with a dopey look never seeing that on the inside Naruto had figured out what Mizuki was up to. "If you take this scroll from the Hokage and learn a jutsu from it you can graduate by bypassing any requirements. Only the strongest academy students are allowed this. The ones who are too strong to be able to such weak jutsu that the Academy teaches."

"I'll do it," shouted Naruto gleefully. And it was no lie. Not only would Naruto stop a possible traitor but he would finally have access to the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing. He would learn the **Shadow Clone Jutsu** at long last. Something that Itachi had never gotten the chance to teach him and something that the Hokage had forbid Kakashi from teaching him. Naruto ran off and Mizuki started laughing like a mad man not knowing that Naruto heard him which confirmed Naruto's suspicions.

Later in the day Iruka was sitting at his desk drinking a cup of coffee while figuring out the best team placements so that the Hokage could sign off on the new teams when a frantic Chūnin barged in and ran up to Iruka out of breath. "What's going on?" Iruka demanded.

"It's Naruto Uzumaki. He's finally shown his true colors," Iruka scowled at the idiot Chūnin for this but the Chūnin didn't notice as he went on, "The brat as stolen the Forbidden Scroll, somehow avoiding the ANBU guards as well as the Hokage. He'll use it to destroy the Leaf Village. The Hokage wants every available ninja to find him and if necessary put an end to the brat before he can become a danger." Iruka knew the last part was a lie. It was merely what the idiot in front of him wanted him to believe. Iruka ran out the door to join the chase before the Chūnin could continue his rant about the so-called "Demon brat."

Meanwhile, Naruto was hard at work having set up shop in the woods. Naruto opened the scroll that he had taken from the Hokage's office with surprising ease. Naruto shook off the thoughts of it being a set up by the Hokage to catch Mizuki in the act. That would be too elaborate even for the aged Hokage. As Naruto predicted the first jutsu on the list was the **Shadow Clone Jutsu** and its derivation **Clone Great Explosion**. They were two of Itachi's favorite techniques and Naruto was finally learning them.

It was sunset by the time Naruto had finished learning and mastering the jutsu. Naruto would definitely use the **Shadow Clone**'s ability to give them their memories as well as the ability his Rinnegan granted him when he used them which was the first step to learning and mastering the technique _he_ had taught him.

Naruto then heard footsteps approaching. Naruto got holding the scroll in his arms and watched as Iruka appeared out of the bushes. "Hey Iruka-Sensei," Naruto called out happily.

"JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING? STEALING THE FORBIDDEN SCROLL?" Iruka was furious and rightly so considering he didn't know the whole story.

"Huh? Stealing? I just took the scroll Mizuki-Sensei said would help me graduate if I learned a jutsu from." Naruto said all of this as innocently as possible while giving Iruka the puppy eyes even if the effect was partially ruined by the Rinnegan's ominous appearance. Iruka still fell for it though.

"Mizuki? What do you mean?" Iruka demanded a bit more calmly now.

"Like I said, Mizuki-Sensei said if I learned a jutsu from this particular scroll than I'd be allowed to graduate," answered Naruto.

Naruto then sensed something coming. Apparently Iruka did to since he tackled Naruto to the ground as a large Fuuma shuriken flew overhead and embedded itself into the tree behind them. Naruto and Iruka looked up and noticed Mizuki bearing down on them with a sinister grin on his face.

"Why, Mizuki-Sensei? Why would you trick me into stealing this scroll," asked Naruto furiously. Iruka looked like he wanted the answer as well.

"Why? Why? Why wouldn't I? This village has done nothing for me!" Mizuki screamed, "Me, an elite Chuunin stuck teaching a bunch of arrogant, self-righteous brats who are beneath me in every way! They think they stand a chance in the real world just because they can last five minutes against me in a spar where I go easy on them! They think their strong if they get good grades! That means nothing!" Mizuki spat. "I hate this village! It doesn't appreciate talent unless it comes from a clan or someone who has special abilities! They claim to be the strongest village out their but they cut out those who work harder than anyone else. What good are genius or clan techniques, if those ninja don't have the first clue what it means to be a commoner? The few civilian ninja who actually become Genin only become Genin because they were teamed up with clan ninja because the civilian ninja aren't as well trained as the clan ninja because of favoritism! Iruka there is a rare teacher kid. He treats all students equally despite their background. It's why he'll never be allowed to be a Jonin because he doesn't follow the corrupt council's ways! And you Naruto, you'll never be Hokage because you would never have been allowed past the rank of Genin even if you had graduated." Naruto had a horrified look on his face as he came to realize that Mizuki was right. The council would never allow him a promotion and the Hokage's hands were too tied by politics to interfere with the council. "I can see it on your face Naruto," Mizuki laughed, "You've come to the same realizations as I have. You're not as dumb as you led people to believe. I saw that when you were showing off in the exam. It's also why I chose you. Your too smart and would thirst for new techniques if offered to you on a silver platter. You would ignore your instincts if you could prove that you aren't worthless. Your thirst for acknowledgement has been your undoing," at this Mizuki's face shifted back from the furious look to the sinister one, "Haven't you ever wondered why the village hates you? Despises you? Treats you like you're not worth their time?"

"NO MIZUKI! IT'S FORBIDDEN TO SPEAK OF!" Iruka shouted with a look of panic on his face.

Mizuki just laughed and continued from where he had left off, "Thirteen years ago the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konoha and many people lost their lives, including Iruka's family. The beast could not be stopped until the Fourth Hokage did what no else would or could. The history books say the Fourth killed the fox. That is a lie!"

"NO MIZUKI! STOP!" Iruka shouted.

"You cannot kill a demon. You can only do one thing. You can seal it away. So the Fourth made a contract with the Death God, Shinigami, and gave his life and soul to seal the demon away. But something like the Nine-Tails could only be sealed in a newborn child. A child whose chakra pathways are underdeveloped. That child was you, Naruto. You are the Nine-Tailed Fox reincarnated!" At this Mizuki laughed maniacally. Mizuki stopped when he heard something coming from in front of him.

Naruto was laughing. Laughing. "HAHAHAHA! You fool I've known for years about the fox. And the thing is nothing to me! Nothing! Me, who shares the transcendent bloodline of the legendary Sage of the Six Paths. That's right, I possess the legendary Rinnegan. The most revered of the three great eye techniques. The Hokage confirmed it to me. Itachi Uchiha told me of the fox and helped me learn my powers before he turned traitor! Now Mizuki for your crimes against Konoha, I sentence you to death for threatening the peace." With that Naruto pulled a black-bladed katana from under his robe and held out his hand, palm facing first, towards Mizuki and cried out, "**Banshō Ten'in**!" Mizuki gasped as he felt he suddenly felt himself being drawn towards Naruto by some mysterious force. Mizuki tried to grab his Fuuma Shuriken off his back but it was too late as he flew towards Naruto. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was Naruto pulling his katana back before thrusting it forward into the incoming Mizuki. Mizuki gasped as his blood spattered the ground when the katana pierced his chest and came out his back.

Iruka stared in shock as he witnessed Naruto effortlessly kill Mizuki, an elite Chuunin, with nothing but a hand gesture and a strangely designed katana. Iruka quickly got overt his shock and smiled. This proved Naruto wasn't the fox. He had killed, yes, but he had done it to preserve the peace. Iruka walked up to Naruto as he cleaned his blade off. "Naruto," said Iruka softly as he noticed Naruto's tears. Naruto looked up at Iruka.

"Iruka-Sensei, I'm sorry I listened to that bastard. I never should have taken the scroll."

"That's over with Naruto. I have something for you. Close your eyes." Naruto did and felt Iruka put something on him. "Okay, open up." Naruto opened his eyes and noticed Iruka wasn't wearing his headband and that's when he felt something foreign on his head. As Naruto realized what it was he began to cry as he jumped Iruka.

"Congratulations Naruto, you pass," Iruka said laughing as he hugged Naruto back.

A/N: I apologize for the late update. I've been very busy lately. Expect updates to be as slow as this one but never fear I will finish this story even if it means my untimely demise. Please review and don't forget criticism.

PS: I have made certain corrections to first chapter.


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